A Leap on the Hellmouth
by Barefoot XO
Summary: Sam Beckett's latest leap is a race against time to save the life of a beautiful teacher. The problem? He's not really sure who did the deed.
1. Are You an Angel?

I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Quantum Leap.

~~

 **Chapter I: Are You an Angel?**

 _January 1998_  
Sunnydale California

In a halo of eerie blue light, Sam Beckett flashed back into existence. He found himself in a mansion, of sorts, the entire place filled with darkness, what with the blackout curtains on the windows and all.

Sam shivered at the cold he felt, wondering if there was heat in this dark and dreary placed. Finally, still unable to get warm, Sam patted himself down, searching for some form of ID. Nothing. What kind of person has no driver's license, no medical insurance, no library card for god's sake? The wallet was empty save for a large wad of cash. The man in question, if he was indeed in a man's body this time, was lacking even a darned credit card.

Finally, more then a little frustrated, Sam looked in a mirror and saw that his reflection... wasn't there. Sam was quickly beginning to panic. What in heaven's name was going on that had him leap into a person with no ID and less reflection. At least his hands looked masculine. That, and the lack of breasts, told him that he was probably an adult male. Beyond that though, he had nothing...

"Sam!"

Sam spun about to see Al in an eye-searing red suit, with matching fedora. "Al, who in God's name am I, now? I've got no ID, no reflection and no idea who I am!"

Al smiled in a fairly conciliatory manner. "Now, now, Sam. I've got Ziggy working on it. We should have something in just a few..." Al slapped his hand against the glowing control pad in his hands. "Ah, here we are... Err... You are currently in a mansion, 64 Crawford Street, Sunnydale California. The date is January 10th, 1998."

Sam growled angrily at Al. "And?"

"And, I got nothing Sam... Ziggy too. This mansion is supposed to be abandoned. The only significant thing about it is that it was sucked into the ground with the rest of Sunnydale around June 2003 sometime. I have no idea who you are or if you actually live here. Although I've gotta say, whoever he is needs to cut back on the hair gel and get himself some more sunlight..."

Sam shook his head in exasperation. "Fine... Any idea as to what I'm doing here?"

Al nodded, seeming a little happier all of a sudden. "Yeah, you're here to prevent the death of Jennifer Calendar. I've gotta say you better get this right, Sammy. This woman is a fox. It'd be a crying shame for her to be removed from the gene pool. Why if I were a few years younger..."

"Al!"

"Yeah Sam?"

"Cause of death?"

"Err, well the official records indicate it was an attack by gang members on PCP, Sam, but that doesn't make any sense at all."

"Why not?"

"Coz she was found in the bed of one Rupert Giles, dressed in some pretty racy lingerie. Exactly how do gang members on PCP come into that?"

Sam considered. "It does seem rather odd that a woman killed by gang-members would end up inside the house of someone unconnected with the gang. I mean, a mob hit, maybe, but gang members? Especially ones that are hopped up on drugs. It seems rather far-fetched, Al."

"Don't I know it, Sam. And that doesn't even begin to get into the oddities with this town you're in. It apparently, right up until it dropped into that sinkhole, had the highest mortality rate in the entirety of the United States. Now, I'll admit, I don't pay that close attention to the news, but you'd think a death rate like that would draw some comment or scrutiny, wouldn't you?"

"So, what we have is a woman who is going to be murdered and left in someone's bedroom wearing lingerie. This is going to happen, when?"

"In around a month or so, Sam..."

"And how am I supposed to prevent a death that is going to occur in a month, Al? I've never had a leap that long before."

"Maybe you'll put the gang in jail? I don't know, Sam. Ziggy and I are working on it. Just hang tight and try to act like... like... whoever Captain Hair-gel there is..."

Sam sighed as Al disappeared into thin air. "Oh that's very useful, Al..."

"Angel?"

Sam spun about and saw a blonde teenager walking up to him with a much too friendly grin on her face. *God I hope she's older then she looks. The last thing I need is to find out I'm in the body of the local child molester...* "Ummm... Hi... What are you doing here?"

The blonde, whoever she was, seemed confused by his question. "We're patrolling tonight? Remember?"

Sam approximated a smile as best he could. "Ummm, yeah. Of course I remembered. Patrol. I've been looking forward to it all day..."

Her expression saddened considerably. "It must be terrible having to stay in all day, every day."

*Stay in? What, do I have a skin condition?* "It's not so bad. You get used to it..."

"If you say so, Angel. Patrol?"

"Patrol... Let's go."

"Angel."

"Yes?"

"Aren't you going to take a stake along?"

*A stake? What the hell do I need a sharp piece of wood for?* "Erm, of course. I'll just be a moment." Sam walked into what appeared to be a bedroom and found a wooden stake. *I'm supposed to go patrolling with a teenage girl, who carries around a pointed piece of wood and my name is Angel* "Oh boy..."

~~

I hope you enjoy this. It's gonna get very frustrating for Sam, very fast. The official information that Ziggy has on Sunnydale and all of the Scooby Gang is all very muddled and contradictory.

Jasper


	2. A Frightening Picture

I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Quantum Leap. They belong to Joss Whedon and Donald Bellisario respectively.

Warning: There is what will seem like bashing of Buffy, Willow and some others in this chapter. It is not meant as such. It is merely, to my mind, an objective analysis of the Scooby Gang's paper trail by someone without access to Initiative and Watchers' Council records.

* * *

 **Chapter II: A Frightening Picture**

 _January 3rd 1998_  
 _Crawford Street Mansion_

Sam Beckett stalked back to the Crawford Street mansion, not realizing that his current brooding attitude was the best approximation he'd managed of his host body's attitude the whole night. He tossed the wooden stake into a random corner and mentally relived the night from hell. Vampires were real. That was a shocker. Worse still, he currently occupied the body of some sort of Anne Rice reject.

Even more painful was the longing looks that the girl, Buffy, kept giving him. There was no doubt about it. She was in love with this 'Angel'. Sam shuddered in disgust at that mental image. Buffy was a cute kid, but she was far too young for him and equally too young for the body he occupied. Even Sam's most charitable estimates put Angel at twenty-five years old.

Sam thought for a long moment about what he would tell Al and decided to leave it for now. He had to figure out what was going on here. He didn't have time to discuss the supernatural with Al again. "Al? Have you got something?"

The hologram sighed dramatically as he appeared. "What I've got, Sam, is thin. And we're talking see-through thin, Sammy."

Sam nodded. This whole mission was rapidly devolving into madness. "What have you got for me?"

Al smiled. "I got some information on your running buddies. 'Buffy' is actually Buffy Summers…"

"You mean her mother actually named her Buffy? I'd hoped it was a nickname."

Al shook his head. "'Fraid not, Sammy. Anyway, Miss Summers is currently an expulsee from Hemery High School in Los Angeles. Apparently it was over an arson case in which she was the principle suspect. To add to the fun, she has been charged with numerous deaths, none of which have ever stuck. Recently she supposedly murdered a guy named Ted Buchanan. By the end of the year, a Kendra Young was added to her sheet. Neither went to trial."

Sam frowned. "An arsonist turned murderer. I've got to tell you, Al, that doesn't sound right to me. I've met that girl. She doesn't strike me as the type."

Al shrugged. "That's all I was able to get on her. Seems she was declared dead in 2004. Some sort of incident in Rome. She never held down a regular job in her life, though she did attend college for several years before dropping out to take care of her sister."

"What sister?"

"Younger sister is Dawn Summers. She's about five years younger. She dies in 2007. This little one really made something of herself. She already had a doctorate in linguistics by the time of her death. She was on a dig in Cairo when she was killed by bandits apparently."

Sam searched his mind. "Odd. I don't recall hearing about a sister." He shrugged. "I suppose she doesn't come out late at night. God knows its not safe out here. What have you got on her other confederates?"

Al snorted. "Willow Rosenberg is a hacker legend known as weeping!willow. She is on the FBI hacker watch-list for dangerous hackers and is also being watched by several big companies that want to take her on board. She's a world-class genius and already has offers on her plate from some pretty sweet colleges at this stage in her life."

"And her future?"

"Same old story, Sam. Enrolled in UC Sunnydale and never worked a job of any sort that I can tell. She took some sort of sabbatical in 2002 after her girlfriend was murdered by some sort of sociopath. I'm not even sure if she's still alive at this point. After the death of Dawn Summers in 2007 she became something of a recluse. I've got nothing else."

"What about the others?"

"Daniel Osbourne was hunted down by some psychopath named Cain in 2001. Before that he was a recluse in Nepal. Cordelia Chase is murdered in her sleep in 2004. Reputedly this was after being in a coma for almost a year. She was an employee of Angel Investigations before that."

Sam grinned. "Angel as in…?"

Al nodded. "Probably. I'm still looking for confirmation for that. Unfortunately Angel Investigations closed down when Chase went into her coma and the whole team was killed in some sort of a riot in 2004. Records are hard to pin down."

Sam went through his head trying to remember who was left. "What about Giles and Xander?"

"Giles is a dead end. The guy had a world class education that was tainted by a rather nasty criminal record in his youth. He worked a few prestigious museums before moving to Sunnydale to take up the high school librarian's post. He was the prime suspect in Calendar's murder. In the future he loses his post as librarian when the school blows up…"

"The school blows up?"

"Don't even get me started on this, Sam. It's a real mess. Anyway, he later opens up a shop called the Magic Box and operates that for a while, with occasional trips to England. And don't ask me how he finances any of this, 'cause his wages don't cover it. Anyway, Giles dies in 2004 in England. Stabbed in the chest, if you can believe it."

Sam shook his head. This was absurd. "Dare I ask what happened to young Xander, then?"

Al smiled genuinely. "Seems this kid was a real success story. His parents were drunks and his grades were crap. He had no money for college, even for those that would have taken him…"

"Doesn't sound like a success story to me?"

Al snorted. "I suppose it wouldn't, Mr. Multiple PhDs, would it? Give me a second. I'm getting there. Anyway, after a string of odd jobs, this Harris kid gets into construction. He ascends to the rank of foreman until 2003 when…"

"… he gets killed, right?"

"Wrong Sam. The kid gets an eye gouged out. Still not sure what the heck happened there. It wasn't work related though, otherwise the kid would have probably have claimed his insurance. Anyway, the kid is working in Africa, something like Habitat for Humanity or some such. Relief efforts, I think. I've got somebody tracking him down while I try to get the kid security clearance."

Sam smiled broadly. "That's great, Al. I really need some help and fast. This whole situation is a mess."

"I know Sam. We're working as fast as we can. Just hold on for now."

Jasper


End file.
